Oct 23, 2023 - Real Estate

What you have to earn to afford a typical home in San Francisco

Megan Rose Dickey

Illustration of a door knocker in the shape of a dollar sign — Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios

Buying a typical home in the San Francisco area has become even more out of reach, per a new analysis from Redfin.

Driving the news: You need to make $404,332 a year to afford the mortgage on a median-priced home in the area, which was nearly $1.5 million in August, according to Redfin.

That's about 25% more than someone needed to make last year to afford the median home.

Why it matters: Americans haven't felt this discouraged about homebuying in decades, Axios' Brianna Crane reports.

Zoom out: The median income in the U.S. is $75,000 a year, but you need to make $115,000 to afford the typical home.

Of note: San Francisco has a number of programs for first-time homebuyers.

The down payment loan assistance program, for example, provides first-time homebuyers with up to $500,000 to put toward a down payment for a market-rate home.

What to watch: Earlier this year, the city finalized an eight-year plan to build more than 82,000 new housing units — about 46,000 of those affordable.

Yes, but: Mayor London Breed said last week that she doesn't think the city will reach that goal due to restrictive building regulations and construction fees, the San Francisco Chronicle reports.
Last week, Breed proposed a March 2024 ballot measure that would waive a transfer tax on office-to-residential building conversions.

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What you have to earn to afford a typical home in San Francisco

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